Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
It’s coming: Bundle up for winter Chester County
Most of the pumpkins are gone from door stoops — along with that yearning for pumpkin spice coffee from Starbucks — for another year.
Trees are bare and leaves have either been gathered, or now rest in windblown piles. Soon the sound of those nasty leaf blowers will stop, along with the annoying drone.
The last of the Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing has joyfully been consumed and most live turkeys can relax until Christmas.
Whether we like it or not, winter will be with us beginning Dec. 21. With it comes biting winds, slippery snow and hat hair.
The DK Diner will sell more “comfort food” and soup, while we each bundle up and hope to find a parking spot closer to the door.
Some will wear long underwear beneath those jeans. Gloves will be misplaced, but like socks, only one at a time will vanish. Owners of two pairs of gloves will inevitably end up with a single pair, with both gloves fitting the same hand.
Almost all of us will revel in the glory and majesty of the first snowfall, but then soon grow tired of the white stuff. Dreaded ice and snow will keep the traffic reporters on KYW busy with the misdeeds of all those who just couldn’t stay away from work or who drove when they shouldn’t have.
When did the weatherperson start predicting different types of storms along an I-95 boundary line? And do they ever predict a storm correctly?
Oh my, how the supermarket
shelves empty out before a big storm. Hope the power doesn’t go out and all that food in the fridge thaws. Maybe, just put the ice cream outside?
Kids will shovel your walk and driveways for a price negotiated depending on how deep and heavy the snow is.
No longer will Art Douglas, show host on WCOJ, and “The Voice of Chester County,” tease us until we are about to burst. Eventually, he would deliver the good news that school was cancelled, or at least postponed. Douglas retired in 1996 and died on July 31, 2005 at the age of 73.
Candle wax will be applied to those old favorites, Flexible Flyer sleds. Kids without sleds will ride plastic discs and even cardboard boxes down any hill that will hold snow. Is there any true way to steer a toboggan, or stop one headed for a tree, other than piling off?
This being southeastern Pennsylvania, the temperature always determines whether a snowstorm changes to a sloppy rain, and subsequent mess, midway through. Of course there is always that chance for a true blizzard creating huge piles of plowed snow in parking lots. Unfortunately, by the time all of that stuff finally melts a week later, it’s black and ugly.
Winter is tougher on some than others. Saint Agnes Parish in West Chester feeds the needy, and gives away hot meals and warm coats. A worker there said that a warm jacket on a frigid night can save a life. That should give us something to think about.
Winter is also Christmas. It’s lights and Santa inflatables. It’s also about that strange custom of cutting down pine trees and propping them up inside the house.
Why, years later, do we prize those photos of a kid screaming from Santa’s lap more than ones of children pictured smiling? And who came up with the idea of sitting on Santa’s lap begging for gifts. Was it the same person who wrote that reindeer can fly?
Long live Santa in our hearts! Don’t forget to leave a little bit of cookies and milk for St. Nick.
If you’ve never seen Christmas lights hanging from a palm tree, proceed immediately to Florida, speed past “Go” and do not collect $200. When all those snowbirds visit the Sunshine State at once, the locals know to not make left turns, and only right turns, during “THE SEASON.”
So many northerners tell Floridians that they could never live in Florida year-round since they would miss the change of seasons. Go ahead. Just
try living in the Sunshine State year round.
Many refer to New Year’s Eve as amateur night due to all the drinking by those who normally abstain. Many of us stay at home, asleep by the time the ball drops in Times Square. It must be a real adventure to visit New York and wear those silly glasses, but how many porta potties are readily available there?
The shortest day of the year and the winter solstice
comes on Dec. 21. There is hope; starting on the solstice, the days get a little bit longer on their steady march to the first day of spring. On Dec. 21, the sun travels the shortest path, thus creating the longest night.
While Alaska is the home of the midnight sun, with longer days in the spring and summer, there are also winter days in some places with no sun all day in the 49th state.
‘Tis the season! Most
will brace for bitter cold and snow. Some will celebrate a new year and the birth of Christ.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. We shall all bundle up!
Bill Rettew is a weekly columnist and Chester County resident. He lived in Florida for seven years and right about now misses sweating. The best way to contact him is at brettew@dailylocal.com